Thermaplugg

In many ways Mekkatorque and Thermaplugg are defined by their relationship with each other. It’s difficult to talk about Thermaplugg without talking about Mekkatorque. They have a very clear cut and close relationship as antagonists. Gelbin is the hero and Sicco is the villain.

There have been some hints recently that Thermaplugg is attempting to clean up Gnomeregan and cure the leprosy himself. I think that giving Thermaplugg more depth and development is great. Thermaplugg’s actions inform us, as players, first hand of the notorious flaws of the gnomish race, in the same way that that Mekkatorque shows us their greatest strengths. Seeing these two characters in active conflict is exponentially more effective at defining ‘gnome-ness’ than any out of character write up could ever be.

In order for this style of storytelling to work we need both sides to be developed. Both characters to be interesting, engaging and little bit relatable. Thermaplugg being undeveloped undermines Mekkatorque’s development. Warcraft primarily tells it’s story though villains. We spend as much, if not more, time interacting with enemies than we do allied heroes. Confronting evil is how our characters interact with the world and it is how we as players learn to understand life on Azeroth.

I have joked that I would like to see Sicco get redeemed, saved, or even, turn out to have been the good guy all along. It would be fun for me, but it would be bad for gnomes in general. We need him to show us what the moral, ideological, and conceptual failings of gnomes. I feel like currently Thermaplugg is perceived by a lot of people as Stupid Evil. I hope that these new lore hints are leading to something that put an end to that perception.

Sicco Thermaplugg marched towards Gelbin Mekkatorque’s office. He carried reports from the field, mostly bad news. There was determination in his walk. He had something new to show Mekkatorque today, not that it would make a difference, but it would be an opening the Mekgineer needed to get the High Tinker to listen.

There was a banging on his door, Mekkatorque sighed. The months of fighting troggs had taken a toll, and he was exhausted. Thermaplugg opened the door without waiting to be invited in, per usual.

“I have the latest numbers.” Thermaplugg dropped a pile of rolled up papers on the desk. “It’s not good news. I did want to talk to you about…” as Sicco spoke Gelbin closed his eyes, ‘Here it comes again‘, he thought, ‘that horror show Sicco had been pushing for months‘, but to his surprize, Sicco’s next words were not what he expected, “…something new.”

The Mekgineer continued, “We haven’t updated the mecha-marine units since the war with the orcs. They didn’t see much action, so there was not much field test data to work with. I call this rig the ‘Gnome Pounder’. This new design gives them sufficient power to outclass the largest troggs we have encountered and is still maneuverable enough to pass through the tunnels easily.”

It was a breath of fresh air for Gelbin. Thermaplugg had always squirmed in his position as the Mekgineer General of the Mecha-Marines. Could this be a sign that Sicco was done with his endless attempts at one upmanship and finally getting down to the business of his position?

Sicco continued pointing at the schematics and explaining, “I had originally wanted to put a canon on it here, but the recoil was too much and I had to go with a pulverizing arm.” Sicco turned to face Mekkatorque with a self satisfied smirk on his face. There was hope in Gelbin’s eyes, exactly what Sicco wanted. “There is just one problem.”

Gelbin felt the brakes clamp down on his enthusiasm. “What’s that?”

Sicco took a deep breath, “We can’t build it.”

“Why not?” Gelbin insisted surprised. His eyes scanned the schematics for something he had missed. “This all seems good Sicco, there is nothing here outside our ability to fabricate…”

“There wouldn’t be, if we had free access to the engineering bay. With the lock down in place there’s no way to get there from here without a fight. We’ve slowed down the troggs, but we’ve also cut ourselves off from our resources.”

The excitement on Mekkatorque’s face began to fade. He knew it was true. Gnomeregan was built it be incredibly easy to transverse, but once the invasion had begun, the lock down protocol had changed all that. It had been designed to keep the citizens sequestered while threats were pushed out of the city. Turning the city into a maze of disjointed rooms and winding passages with ‘defendable’ entrances and exits.

“The engineering bay is in the lowest section of the city.” Sicco stated plainly.

Gelbin turned to look at him with a questioning look on his face that quickly fell into a scowl, ‘here it comes‘ he thought, but this time he was more than just annoyed. “You are not going to strip my bolts with this again, are you!? I can’t agree to that atrocity you’ve been planning. Did you draw up these plans JUST to get me to listen to THIS again!?” Frustration bubbled up out of Mekkatorque’s voice.

Sicco had counted on getting Mekkatorque riled up, but now to see Gelbin like this it occurred to him that he had never seen the High Tinker like this before. It was a touch fascinating and terrifying. He really had know idea what this gnome, famous for his cool head and reliability, would do next. Thermaplugg pushed forward.

“How many gnomes have to die for you Mekkatorque?” Sicco pointed at the reports he had brought in. “You’ve seen the same numbers I have. This is getting worse, not better. We used the old kobold shield wall strategies and they failed, because the troggs are too strong. We used the tanks we built for pushing back the trolls and THEY failed, because they were too big to function under the surface. We are learning, but not fast enough. This isn’t a lab, we don;t have time for experimentation. The consequences are real!”

Mekkatorque began to crack, “Do you think I don’t see that? I know each time we are forced to change strategies we lose more ground…”

“And we lose more gnomes! Yet you refused to evacuate the city.” Thermaplugg shot back, “Now we have gnomes trapped behind enemy lines. At our current rate of iteration and development, how many more failures before we get the upper hand? How many gnome lives are spent while you sit around trying to figure something out?”

Mekkatorque rebuffed, “Every gnome I send out there has a fighting chance of coming home. If we do what you suggest, their blood will be on our hands, MY hands. Blast it, even the troggs don’t deserve the a cruel death you have concocted. It’s not a defense, it’s an extermination.”

“You’re worried about the well being of the troggs now!?” Sicco recoiled.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it Sicco.” Gelbin said with a sober tone.

It was true, but Sicco pressed the point anyway, “Ten percent.”

Gelbin finally replied after a pause, “Ten percent what?”

“Casualties to the gnome martial service under my plan. You may say that those lives would be on your hands if you do this, but I’ve seen these numbers.” Sicco picked up one of the scrolls of the table. “You’re looking at twice, maybe triple that from any of these alternate solutions. THOSE are the gnomes whose blood you need to think about. Gnomes who in the end could be ALIVE because of the decision you make. Face reality Gelbin. These aren’t our old enemies, kobolds, trolls, even orcs. These creatures don’t want our resources. They are frenzied killing machines. They will not stop until we are wiped out. We can’t drive them back into the tunnels they can from and seal them up, we have to eradicate them before they eradicate us.”

Sicco watched Gelbin silently for a long time. His face was unreadable. Sicco’s heart was racing, sure this was his last chance to present this idea and keep his position as Mekkatorque’s advisor.

“Bring me the plans and formulas for the irradiator.” Gelbin finally said; his tone betrayed no emotion. “And start setting up what you need. Once I give the final approval I want it ready to go.” He turned to look away from Sicco, “Time wasted is lives lost.”

“Right away, Sir.” Sicco surprised himself, he never called Mekkatorque Sir, not in all the years they had worked together had he done so. “Most of it is already set-up. My mephitichemists have been collecting the materials and brewing the fuel. We just need to cut into the main…” Gelbin held up a hand to stop Sicco.

“Just… bring me the plans and put the devices in place. You are dismissed.”

Sicco quickly hurried to the door, but paused at the threshold. His face somber he turned back towards the High Tinker, “Gelbin. I know this was hard for you. It’s the best thing for Gnomeregan. We are going to save a lot of lives.” Mekkatorque kept his back towards him.

Thermaplugg stepped out of the room. Once he heard the door close, his face pinched in to an insidious smile as he hurried down the hall. He had done it. Despite always being one step behind Mekkatorque, he was finally going to get his way.

Because gnome lore in World of Warcraft is… light. There is a lot of room for head canon. When coming up with my head canon I try to look back at what is there and infer as much as possible for the source material before I start creating things from whole cloth. What can be inferred about gnomes from Warcraft 2 lore and game mechanics?

There are two gnome units and one gnome building in Warcraft 2, the Gnomish Flying Machine, the Gnomish Submarine and the Gnomish Inventor. The first to become available is the Gnomish Flying Machine. It’s built at the Gnomish Inventor building. The submarine is built at the shipyard, just like all Alliance boats, but requires the Gnomish Inventor to be present.

When World of Warcraft launched in 2004 there were really only 2 gnome characters of any note, Mekkatorque and Thermaplugg. It’s suggested in the lore that Mekkatorque has been High Tinker since before the Second War. Therefore I feel like it’s safe to assume that he lead the gnomish forces in that conflict, making Gelbin Mekkatorque THE Gnomish Inventor.

We see in concept art for Heroes of the Storm that Mekkatorque is a pilot of a Gnomish Flying machine. This makes sense, his most famous inventions are forms of transportation, the Mechanostrider and the Deeprun Tram. So his role as a pilot would not contradict anything we see him do in game. It is further supported more by the suit of power armor he pilots on the Broken Shore in Legion. Mekkatorque seems as comfortable behind a control panel as he does with a melee weapon.

If we assume that Mekkatorque lead the Gnomish Air Force during the Second war, I think it’s safe to assume that Thermaplugg was Admiral of the Gnomish Navy. Thermaplugg would not have been on the same level as Mekkatorque. He would have been under the command of Grand Admiral Proudmoore from Kil Tiras. The lore descriptions of how the subs were used in Warcraft 2 imply that the gnome submarines were under Proudmoore’s command.

I would love to see a remastered Warcraft 2 RTS that featured Mekkatorque as a hero Flying Machine unit, and Thermaplugg as a hero Submarine unit.

If we look further at the game mechanics to give lore hints, we find something else. There are two dwarven units in the game too. The Gryphon Rider, which is a Wildhammer dwarf, and the Demolishion Squad, from underground Kaz’Modan. The thing is, the Dwarves of Ironforge are the second unit you get from the Gnomish Inventor.

I think that while the Wildhammers were going all in with the Alliance Forces, Ironforge was holding back, and the Ironforge dwarves that did participate were under the command of Mekkatorque.

Wildhammers are said in the lore to be separate and distrusting of the other dwarves. They even have their own building for their unit. But the Ironforge dwarves come from the Gnomish Inventor. It supports the idea of the strained relationship between Wildhammers and Bronzebeards.

If Ironforge feels about the same way towards Wildhammers as Wildhammers feel about them. I could see Magni not wanting to commit to the Alliance fully because the Wildhammers were featuring such a predominate role in it’s formation. Is it really a stretch to think that Magni would want to keep the Wildhammers, and by extension the Alliance, at arms length? Here is this large organization forming, that includes both friendly trading partners and old rivals. He can’t snub them by refusing to join, and the threat too Azeroth as a whole is large to be ignored. So rather than put Ironforge dwarves at risk of having to take orders from Wildhammers, he asks Mekkatorque to take the role leading Ironforge and Gnomeregan’s combined forces. That way he can send aids to his allies, and defend Azeroth, without having to buddy up to the Wildhammers.

All that political and military entanglement of Ironforge and Gnomeregan could lead to Gnomeregan catching the attention of the Dark Irons… but that’s a path we can go down later.

I have not had a chance to read Chronicles Volume 2 yet, but from what I have heard there is not a lot of development of either Gnomeregan or Ironforge from the Warcraft 2 era. I really wish that some distance would be put between the Gnomes and Dwarves in Warcraft. They can be friends with being shoehorned in to the same niche in the lore. At this point they remain inexorably tied to one another. I hope that they will continue to work on making each more unique by diversifying their kits in different directions.

My campaign has been quietly working behind the scenes for a couple months now, and we are ready for a big announcement! After careful consideration of many fine and talented gnomes, I have come to a final decision about my running mate.

I am proud to welcome Gearmaster Mechazod to the ticket! Mechazod brings tens of thousands of years of experience to the team, both dealing with everything from mundane maintenance matters and incredibly important cosmic scale matters that are beyond mortal comprehension. We are very lucky to have him here with us*.

I’m sure you will all agree that he is the perfect complement to what we have going, and our vision for Gnomeregan’s future!

Every gnome and goblin knows it. But no one talks about it. When I was the right hand of the High Tinker, I oversaw Gnomeregan’s ambassadors to Kezan. Don’t act so shocked. OF COURSE Gnomeregan kept open channels with the Trade Princes. We need the free flow of ideas and resources between our nations. Yes, some member of the envoys did get a Kaja’Cola addictions, but they were rotated out so that wouldn’t happen again.

I’m one of the few gnomes in a unique position. I taught mechanical engineering to goblins in exchange for them teaching demolitions to me. We never shared the most cutting edge information with them, and I’m certain they never shared their most cutting edge information with us.

You’ll never find a goblin that will admit it. But it’s still happening. They don’t talk to me anymore, but that’s fine. I get the same information second hand from the Forsaken.

Gnomes can find themselves more prone to certain vices than other races. Individual gnomes are very giving. They have a tendency to ‘put it all out there’ this can lead to excess. Gnomes sometimes contribute more than their fair share in ways that damage their ability to function in the future. Other times, gnomes put out things that don’t contribute or even impair the goals of the group. These lead to fatigue over-extension, squander, vanity, bragging, and immodesty.

On the other side are gnomes of too much modesty, those that believe their contributions are insignificant or even burdensome to those around them. Many a gnomes has seen a group that works well and thought, “There is no need for me here.” and thereby denied others a new and unique source of ideas.

Many gnomes go too far with their ideas and things become unnecessarily Complicated or Grandiose. This is especially a problem when trying to set an example for other races. The tall folk like things to be simple and direct. Many a gnomes attempt to capture nuance has been perceived as convoluted and unproductive. No matter how good your solution is, it helps no one if the explanation is too confounding to be put in to practice.

HA! That ‘insignificant’ part has Mekkatorque written all over it. I don;t see any of these that apply to ME either, so that feels good. How about you? What’s wrong with you gnome?